When the Dust Settles
by Marsie Elvenheart Sinclair
Summary: He's running for his life, searching desperately for his family and all aroun him the world is crashing down. He's too young to be alone but too strong to give up. -Based on my Boss' awesome comic on DA-
1. Chapter 1

00†The World Ended in a Bright Sunny Day

It was the end of May and the weather was just perfect for spending all day outside, the sky was a so bright and clear that it shined, and the sea was calm and a soft silvery-blue like it was made by silk instead of water.

"Where are we going?" questioned the honey blonde little boy with a curious smile on his round face: he couldn't wait to find out where his Mama was taking him and why the other was so mysterious about their destination.

"It's a secret!" grinned the elder Nation with a playful wink "Can't say more than this!"

After nearly half an hour of walking in the beautiful countryside they finally arrived at a bluff overlooking the sea, a wonderful place with green soft grass and a little white shore just underneath.

"Here we are! Today I'll teach you how to be a Viking badass like me!" explained the Dane flashing one of his trade-mark wolf-like grins to the amazed child. The tall man took few steps back and, making a warrior-like pose, he balanced the huge battle axe in his hands as if it weighed nothing more than wooden stick.

Little Søren, also known as the Freetown of Christiania, observed intently as his Mama twirled and jumped, with the axe, in a mighty battle dance: it was simply amazing how powerful and elegant the moves were.

"You are so awesome, Mama!" beamed the little boy clapping his hands happily "I want to be strong like you!" and he seriously meant it: he wanted so bad to be a great Viking with the large axe, making the elder nation proud of his battle skills.

"Ok! Now it's your turn!" Denmark smiled, handing the huge battle axe to his son, "Show me how strong you are!"

The little boy was about to take the heavy weapon, when suddenly everything around them became dead silent and the sky turned red like fresh blood; it was strangely fascinating like gazing in the deep of the stormy sea and the blonde child took a few step nearer the edge so he could see better what was going on when suddenly, with a burst of light, the sky was lit on fire.

Then a huge wave came and hit the cliff erasing the little shore and making the bluff crumble into nothing under the boy's feet

"Mama!" screamed the child, falling down into the dark water "Help me!"

But luckily there was a tree root sticking out from what remained of the cliff and Søren grabbed it and held on for his dear life.

†††

It all happened too damn fast, one moment they were all happy and then suddenly all hell broke loose. The sky turning red, the flash-like thing and then the massive waves…it was too much!

Dan was standing here, paralyzed like a scared cat, too shocked to do nothing else than staring helplessly at where there once was the bluff and-

"MIN GUD!" he suddenly screamed over the roaring sea "CHRIS! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

_He was near the edge,_ thought frantically the former Viking, _he could have fallen down! _

With only the thought of his little boy all alone in the dark sea in his mind, he ran right to the edge and gazed down: not too far from where he was, but in a point of the steep cliff nearly impossible to climb over, there was the tree root and, clinging to it like a terrified kitty, his precious little Søren was luckily unharmed.

Dan nearly burst into tears from joy: just another little effort and he could have his son back again!

But then there was another problem: how could he save the little boy if he couldn't even reach his hand?

But thinking a little bit he came up with a good plan: the handle of his battle axe was long enough to reach the tree root, so he lowered it quickly to the little boy.

"Now you have to be very brave, ok?!" called the King of the North "Grab this and hold on tight so I can pull you up!"

The child tried to reach the handle of the huge axe, but it was a little bit too high for his short arms, and he was only able to grab the crown-like charm at the end of it; the older Nation was about to pull him up when suddenly the delicate chain broke, leaving the poor boy without a support.

Denmark quickly reached out his hand trying to grab his son, but the boy was already too far away, leaving him helplessly watching his precious little boy falling down into the dark merciless sea.

He screamed his son's name again and again crying loudly and growling like a wounded beast: he failed to save him and now he was gone forever…it wasn't fair that a young boy had to die in such a horrific way!

The last thing he saw was the frail body hitting the water, and then all turned white and painfully hot.


	2. Chapter 2

01† I Have to Make It!

The very first thing Sørenfelt, even before opening his eyes, was an odd floating-like sensation "Wh-where am I?" groaned the little boy. Soon he turned his head and gazed around himself tiredly: he was floating on his back in the shallow water not too far from what seemed like an artificial shore protected by a huge gray wall and beyond it the silhouette of some buildings.

But it didn't helped the Micronation at all: he had somehow gotten very lost, far far away from home and he didn't even known how he had gotten here.

The little boy was trying to recall the latest events of the day but all he could remember was his Mama's awesome battle dance, the flash-like thing in the sky, the dark angry sea clawing at the crumbled cliff and then…nothing.

It wasn't good, not at all. He had missed something big and important: he remembered clearly that it was early in the morning when they were on the bluff but now it was nearly dark…but why?

But he really couldn't think over it right now: he has to get away from the ocean as soon as possible, and maybe find a safe place to rest too.

The little boy quickly crawled out of the water and he was about to climb over the wall, when he noticed that there was something in his hand: maybe it was only a stupid rock but something inside his little heart was telling him otherwise. He opened his hand and find his Mama's little crown-like charm resting on his left palm: the little blonde was so glad to still having something familiar with him! Now, with a little bit of imagination, he could even feel like his Mama was still by his side protecting him with his awesome battle axe and cheering him up with one of his shiny wolf-like grins.

Now no one could stop him from find his family.

"Look at me, Mama!" grinned the little boy as he climbed up on the wall "I'm a Viking badass too!" suddenly the steep wall wasn't so difficult to go past and his steps were lighter and more secure.

Reaching the edge of the wall was easy like climbing up on a short tree but the other side was vertical, so nearly impossible to climb over. He has no other choice than jump down and praying that the scrawny bushes underneath somehow softened his landing.

After taking a deep calming breath, the little blonde jumped down, eyes squeezed closed, bracing himself for the harsh impact but halfway down, his falling suddenly stopped; the child opened his eyes slowly and curiously gazed around trying to figure out what was happening.

He somehow gottencaught on a nail hanging out from the wall by the hem of his little shirt and so he was stuck up there hanging like a salty fish.

Surely it wasn't his lucky day!

"Nej!" screamed the little boy squirming and kicking like a crazy"Let me go, you stupid nail!" But it was all useless: if a miracle won't happened he has to stay like this forever.

Then suddenly there was a loud ripping sound and the Micronation was free –and falling- again.

He landed clumsily in a little pile right over his right arm, twisting it into an odd angle: the little boy groaned in pain clutching his damaged limb tightly, his eyes wide and rimmed with tears.

He felt so lonely and sad, like never before in his short life: every single time he had gotten hurt there was someone by his side, comforting him and telling him that it was all ok but now there was no one here.

After a little while the pain has faded into a sort of annoying pulse, like there was someone tapping at his arm from the inside, and Chris was finally able to stand up again, even stumbling a little bit, and getting himself to explore the city behind the wall: he really needed a safe place to rest, something warm to wear instead of his ripped shirt and maybe something to eat too.

It was a little town that, before the flash-like thing, had to be very beautiful but now was only an empty desolated bunch of ruined walls and collapsed roofs and worst of all there was no one there. Or no one alive at least.

Along the once fancy streets there were a lot of bodies, sprawled out on the gray concrete like broken dolls and badly burned.

It was horrible and the poor little boy was trying so hard to not looking at them, but they were practically everywhere and he had to walk with his good hand over his face to avoid the smoke and the disgusting smell.

Probably something had caught fire and without firemen, it was still burning.

Little Chris kept wandering around for a while trying to find a clothes shop or something like this, but all he was able to find were half burned things: he was tired, soaking wet and now also very scared.

It was like living in an horror movie and being the frightened girl who tried –and failed- to run away from the zombies … and he hated that kind of movies with a passion, every time he had tried to watch one of them he had ended up weeping like a baby in his Mama's arms. But now it was worse 'cause it was real and really scary.

He wanted his Mama and his Dad right now, and he want them together and not arguing like they usually do…it was such a waste of time…they could have been all happy instead of quarrelling all the time…it was so sad and thinking about sad things was making the little boy weak and lonely. He was even on the verge of tears again

"Mama…" moaned the blonde child "I've tried to be strong and badass like you…but…" he was talking to the crown charm like it was his missing parent "I'm so weak and tired…I can't do it all alone…i-it's too much!"now he was sobbing loudly in the middle of the road.

_There is no way that a little thing like me could came out alive of this nightmare: I'm only a short scrawny child that have lived in a big comfy house since forever, not a big strong Vikingwho had lived through wars and scary adventures_, thought the poor Micronation: he had cried so loud that now his voice was gone. He doesn't care that it was already night and the harsh wind was biting on his tender skin. He simply didn't have the strength to move out of that stupid road.

Chris stayed like that for a while, until he heard something: voices, real human voices not zombie-like growls! There was surely someone and not too far away too!

"Takk, Mama!" smiled the little boy with his eyes still red and rimmed with tears"Maybe they will be friends!"

With a newfound hope in his little heart he ran toward the voices until he found the source of them: they were from a ground-level shattered window or more probably from the room beside it.

The little boy, now curious and hopeful, knelt down and peaked inside it but suddenly his wounded arm given up under his weight and he stumbled inside landing harshly on his face on the hard concrete floor.

The pain in his arm was unbearable and his whole body was hurting too "Mama…" moaned weakly "i-it hurts…ma-make it stop…p-please…" it was hard to breathe and even keeping his eyes open was exhausting too.

Then the soothing painless darkness took him away in its welcoming arms.

†††

Voices.

A lot of weird incomprehensible reverberating voices all around him, and they were gentle and soft, almost whispering or singing…he didn't know and before he could try to concentrate on them, he was asleep again.

†††

He couldn't understand what they were saying but he knows that they were talking about him, and telling from their low, concerned voices something bad has happened. The little boy kept his attention on the voices, with his eyes still closed, trying to make a sense out of those weird whispers-like voices: he had surely heard this language before, even if at the moment he couldn't exactly recall where or when.

His mind was working painfully slow, trying to concentrate gained him a massive headache and, thinking of it, why was he so badly hurt?

After a bit little Chris dared to open his eyes and gazing around curiously: he was lying on something soft and warm, all bundled up in a thick blanket in a nearly dark place; all around him was calm and relaxing like had never felt from the beginning of the catastrophe.

"Oh, you're finally awake!" there was the gentle voice from before, soft and somewhat heavily accented "I was so worried…"

The little boy lifted his head a bit and his blue eyes met a pair of watery green ones: there was an old lady smiling down at him sweetly, her long ash grey hair falling on her face.*

"But why?" asked weakly little Chris "What happened?" he was so confused, his memories were a big useless mess and simply trying to remember the last few hours –or days?- was exhausting.

"You slept for nearly a week" she explained patiently "you had a really bad fever, poor little prince, and your arm was badly hurt so I took good care of you."

Ok, that explained why he felt so dizzy and weak but … why that old lady cared about him? Doesn't she has a family?

"I'm very old and lonely," she continued with a sad smile "my husband passed away long time ago and my daughter, well, she doesn't care for her old _Baba_ anymore…" a shiny tear rolled down her wrinkled cheek and she wiped it away with a quick elegant move "…maybe I'm only being foolish, but you reminded me of my little nephew…the last time I saw him was only a baby and now he has to be around your age… There has to be a reason that makes you come to my basement…maybe if I'll took care of you, someone else will help my dear Misha…"

Oh, so the old lady was helping him as a sort of prayer for is long lost nephew… poor old lady…

"I'm sure he'll be ok!" smiled the little boy"My Mama always said that the Gods protects kind people! And you were very kind…"he really hoped that it was true but there were happening so many bad things…

"You miss her so much, eh…"

"Her?"

"Your Mama…it's not good for a child as young as you to be alone…"

No, it wasn't good at all but little Chris was sure that his family was somewhere out there waiting for him and the only thing he has to do was stay strong and find them.

†††

There were some other people hiding away in _Baba_ Olga's basement and when he felt better enough to walk around again, little Chris tried to talk with them –at least to the ones who looked still alive- to find out what exactly was happening and maybe have some news about his family.

"I don't know what is happening" sighed a short haired girl lightly annoyed "I'm stuck here just like you and by the way, my mobile is broken and I couldn't check on the news recently." Then she walked away in her corner again grumbling moodily to herself.

The little boy thanked her kindlybut in his mind wanted so bad to scream out all his frustration: the world was literally crashing down and all she was concerned for was her stupid mobile! Sometimes humans could be so selfish!

"We are all dying!" cried a woman with a big painful-looking burn on her arm "It's the end of this insane world! We kept destroying the rainforests and killing the animals and now the Earth is getting rid of us!"

Ok maybe that woman was a bit delusional due to the pain but he couldn't deny that outside was bad and getting worse day after day; a couple of weeks after the disaster at night even some of the refugees went out stealthily equipped with makeshift weapons or old rifles. The little boy didn't know exactly what they were up to 'cause no one cared to told him that, but the day after they came back beaten up and at times with bundles of clothes, canes of food and other things. They have stolen them from the stores or from the ruined houses and they were using them to keep the other as their sort of slaves: if someone wanted clothes or a spare blanket, has to give them money or work for them. It wasn't fair. Not at all.

One time he has saw one of them practically forcing a girl who needed something warm for her wounded friend to give them her silver cross pendant: she was crying and praying them to let her keep the jewel that was her grandma's last gift.

Days slowly turned into weeks, and weeks into months and then, in a particularly depressing rainy day, something very interesting happened: a large group of people was walking down the usually empty streets and they were talking to each other about something, and very strange in that troublesome times some of them were smiling.

Luckily some of them stopped right in the nearly ruined church and one night little Chris sneaked out of the basement to talk with them and have some news that weren't the same we're-all-dying thing.

And so he found out that in Riga there was a creepy very tall man who was running submarine travels to the colonies over the Atlantic Ocean and he decided to leave Baba Olga's basement and go search for his family.


End file.
